The Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace debuts this week at
www.religionconflictpeace.org. The online scholarly journal, published by a collaborative of Indiana’s three historic peace colleges, is a forum for discussion of the role of religion in both conflict and peacebuilding.

The premier issue of the Journal features articles by nine major thinkers in theology, ethics, religious studies and conflict transformation. Readers may access the articles about religion as a source of conflict and as a resource for peace without subscription and distribute them (with attribution and unaltered) freely. A “letters to the editor” feature further encourages dialogue among readers and scholars.

Initial topics range from the role of religion in the global war on terrorism by Douglas Johnston, president of the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, to an argument for recanonizing scripture to exclude violent texts by secular humanist Hector Avalos of Iowa State University. Daniel Maguire of Marquette University brings his expertise on moral theological ethics and ordained Soto priest Brian Victoria at Antioch College identifies a “holy war” tradition in all major faiths and calls for its rejection universally.

The online journal is a project of the Plowshares peace studies collaborative of Earlham, Goshen and Manchester colleges funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. Joseph Liechty, associate professor of peace studies at Goshen College, is editor. Contact him at joecl@goshen.edu or 574-535-7802.